


Compromise

by ashleyfanfic



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Minor Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, One-Shot, Talk of sex, bastards, ladies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 13:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11829750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleyfanfic/pseuds/ashleyfanfic
Summary: Jon confronts Gendry about not telling him about his previous relationship with Arya.  Some things get hashed out.





	Compromise

**Author's Note:**

> Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are only hinted at. I'm writing this based on episode 5 of Season 7 in that it looked like Gendry and Jon could become friends. As friends, I figured Jon would be a little irked when he found out that Gendry and Arya knew one another and he never said anything. Spoilers for 7x05 if you haven't seen it.

Jon entered the Godswood and found Gendry seated on a stone, his great cloak wrapped around him, eating a piece of bread as Arya practiced her water dancing.  It was beautiful, but he didn’t know how useful it would be in an actual fight. She had grace and poise, yet the dead didn't fight that way.

“Remind me again how that’s going to stop a white as it’s running at you.  They don’t fight with finesse,” Gendry said to her, his mouth full with a bite of food.  He spoke the thoughts Jon had only moments ago, and he wondered what her answer would be.  

She stopped at looked at him.  “Yet swinging a hammer is effective?”  But she didn’t deny what he was saying. 

“It’s always worked for me,” he said with a smile and held a piece of bread up for her and she plucked it from his fingers and popped it into her mouth. 

“You’re still stupid,” she muttered, turning her back to Gendry and stopped when she saw her brother.  “Jon?”  she didn’t glance back at Gendry though he knew she wanted to.  Gendry stood and faced off with his friend even though Arya tried to put herself between them.  “Come to pray?”

He shook his head.  “I need to speak with Gendry.”

“Why?”  Arya demanded though Gendry cleared his throat behind her, now only a breaths away from her.  He was so close she could feel his breath ruffle her hair. 

“I should talk to him,” he said and was standing directly behind Arya, now, realizing that he’d been putting off the conversation since their arrival at Winterfell.  Gendry had been elated to realize they were not only going to the great keep but that Arya was alive and well, though he didn’t mention to Jon that he knew her.  At the time, he’d been conflicted about his feelings for her given her age and station in society.  Though she was ‘Arya’ to him, she was a Lady of Winterfell to everyone else.  

“Whatever you have to say to Gendry you can say to me,” she insisted.  If Jon suspected that Gendry had been untoward or compromised her in some way, his life could be in danger, and since he hadn’t done any of that, she felt it her duty to protect one of the people who meant the most to her.

Jon looked to Gendry and a silent agreement passed between them that Arya needed to leave and they needed to have this conversation.  Gendry placed his hand on her shoulder and frowned.  “It’s fine.  I’ll meet you back in the courtyard,” he said with a nod.

Arya had stared at Gendry for only a moment before she turned her eyes back to her brother. If she was honest, he was the one she loved the most. He never discouraged her in wanting to learn swordplay. He never told her she was a stupid girl, or that her only purpose would be to get married to form an alliance.  He knew who she was and what she was about. She had changed over the years, but Jon probably still thought of her as the child she’d been the last they’d seen one another.  Too much time had passed, too many things had happened, for her to have remained that girl.  Now she was Arya Stark of Winterfell. Assassin. Faceless Man. But Gendry had a part of her, and though she loved Jon, she wouldn’t allow anything to befall him due to their friendship (she felt it was more than that) with her. “You’re not planning to hurt him, are you?”

“No,” Jon answered, trying to calm her fears.

“Send him away?” she whispered, hoping that he could see that they needed Gendry. She needed him.

“No.”

She looked back at Gendry who gave her a slight nod and she turned from him. She walked towards her brother with a purpose and only glanced at Gendry once as she spoke. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

He didn’t say anything to Arya as she walked past.  He kept his hands on the hilt of his sword and frowned. “You’ve known her for a while,” Jon stated when he realized Arya was out of earshot.

“Yes.  We left King’s Landing together, years ago. I was sold to the Night’s Watch, and Arya was hiding in our group as a boy.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that? You told me you were Robert’s bastard, that you met my father, but you never mentioned my sister. Did you do something you shouldn’t have?”

He frowned. “Do you think I would be living if I had? She would have killed me straight away. And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to give you false hope that she might be alive.”

“Do you love her?”

Gendry took a deep breath and smirked. “I didn’t think so.” He moved closer to Jon, showing him that he trusted him to keep his word and that hopefully, he would understand that he was a man of his. “I thought it was nothing more than a passing infatuation, just longing for the day she was older...When I saw her again, I thought that was it.”

“And now?”

He furrowed his brow and took a deep breath. “I love her.”

Jon turned his eyes away from Gendry and stared at the heart tree. “She’s grown. In my head, I still picture her as the little girl that left Winterfell with my father.” Gendry remained silent and allowed him to finish. “She stopped being that girl a long time ago, didn’t she?”

“I can’t say as I didn’t know her before they executed your father. But when I met her, she had already begun training with the sword, she started a few fights and she couldn’t defend herself properly, yet.  But she had already started her list, and I believe she would have already been in King’s Landing and killed Cersei had she not diverted and come here. Her family pulled her from that road.”

Jon scowled and sighed. “I’m torn. On the one hand, I want to protect her, but on the other, she doesn’t need protecting. And she’s of age to realize what she wants. Do you know if that’s you?”

He shook his head. “She’s not the type to talk about her feelings. I only know she’s angry when she shoves me,” he said and smiled.  

Jon’s face remained passive and when he spoke again, Gendry thought his ears were playing tricks on him. “I could make you legitimate,” he said softly. “Make you the true heir to Robert Baratheon to bolster your name so you could marry her. Would you want that?”

“How would Queen Daenerys feel about that? Naming an heir to the usurper for her throne?”

“She’s the one who told me to do it,” he said softly  “Daenerys is not one who actually believes that you couldn’t be together without you being made legitimate, but she knows that the North won’t accept you as her husband without it. And your claim to the line means nothing to her. If you decide to take it from her, she would simply burn you alive,” Jon answered and Gendry heaved a sigh.  “All of that means nothing if that’s not what you want? Do you want to be Arya's husband?”

“If she would have me.”

Jon frowned. “I’m sure she’s ready to burst, wanting to know what we’re talking about, what’s being said about her behind her back. I would never make a decision about this without her, so ask her.  I’ll do whatever it is she desires,” he said and watched as Gendry’s shoulders sagged with relief.  

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You have to convince a girl who never wanted to get married to marry you,” he said with a smile before he turned. “I don’t envy your task.”

*~*

Arya leaned against the wall, fighting against the need to listen to their conversation. And just when she thought she would break, they both exited the woods, Jon giving her a soft smile before he walked away, leaving Gendry alone with Arya. “What did he want?  Did he warn you away from me?” she demanded, fighting the urge to shove him until he answered.

He took her hand and pulled her towards the wood once more, needing privacy. “No,” he finally answered and she walked easier to the heart tree.  

“Then what?”

“Your brother wanted to know my intentions towards you.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “What does it matter?”

“It matters,” he said with a small smile. “You love me, yeah?”

Her back straightened, her shoulders level, and then she scoffed. “You’re such a stupid boy.”

“That a ‘yes’?”

She sighed. “Yes,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Good. I love you, too. Your brother just offered to make me legitimate, the true heir to Robert Baratheon.”

She furrowed her brow. “He did?”

He nodded.  “He said the Lords of the North wouldn’t accept me as your husband otherwise.”

“We’re getting married?” she said, disdain dripping from her tone.

“No,” he said as he stepped forward and carefully took her hands. “Not unless you’ll have me. It seems like the world is heading towards all out war, but should we survive, there is no one I would rather stand beside than you.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand why we need to get married for that to happen,” she said softly. “Can’t you just be Gendry and I’m Arya and we’re just together?”

He furrowed his brow. “I don’t want to bring you dishonor, and I’m afraid that any relationship we have would do that. The Northern houses won’t accept us together unless we’re married. And I refuse to bring a bastard into this world. It’s a horrible existence. Your brother and I both lived it.”

“Children, now?”

He sighed, feeling frustrated at how she was fixating on little things instead of the whole picture. “I would have you any way I could. I love you.  I’ve loved you for a long time. Thoughts of you, sometimes, were all that kept me from going mad.

She frowned. “What do _you_ want?”

“You.”

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his chest. “I’m not wearing a dress when we get married.”  He moved his hands over her arms and when she looked up, he pressed his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close against her. When she finally pulled away she smiled. “And I get to be on top.”

His eyes narrowed a bit. “And how does a lady know about such things?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, a grin on her face. “All the time I’ve spent around men and you think I don’t know what happens between a man and a woman? That I don’t listen?”

He placed another kiss on her lips. “The first time,” he said against her lips. “You can be on top the first time.”

She nodded. “It’s all about compromise, right?”

“I believe so.  We’ll figure it out.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing Arya and Gendry, so let me know what you think.


End file.
